Google Taps AI To Detect Age Of Consent On YouTube And Other Services

Within the last 10 years, Google has paid over $200 million to settle privacy lawsuit allegations, including a $170 million settlement in 2019 for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). These incidents have made child privacy and parental consent a top priority for Google in more recent years. Recently, the tech giant revealed plans to add new digital protection features for children and adolescents. One of these features involves the use of a machine learning model to identify the age of a user and the content that could be safe for them. Google will roll out some of these features in a few weeks, while others will be rolled out in future updates.

In a safety report, Google unveiled plans to deploy its machine learning models to determine if a user is a child, teen, or an adult. If things go as planned, this feature should help its algorithm determine if a piece of content is appropriate for the right digital experience corresponding to a user's age. As good as this may sound, Google hasn't announced a release date yet, only that testing will begin this year. It has, however, provided rollout timelines for other features, starting with "School Time."

For parents worried that their kids are being distracted by gadgets in school, Google said School Time has been designed to address this problem. This feature should allow parents to retain their control over their children's devices including during school hours. This feature will be available on Android phones and tablets next week.

What if you are a parent or guardian who wouldn't want your children to have potentially harmful phone conversations with strangers? Google has promised to get you in control with the proposed Parent Approved Contact feature. Here is how Google says it will work: Parents and guardians will be empowered to add contacts to their child's device and restrict their child's phone conversations to approved contacts only. Google has promised to roll out this feature next month.

Other features in this safety update include Tap-to-Pay, Learn About, and NotebookLM. According to the tech giant, Tap-to-Pay will empower parents to add or remove payment cards from their child's Google wallet while Learn About is tailored to help children enjoy conversational learning experiences. Also, NotebookLM will offer simplified explanations of complex topics making them easier to understand.

While future privacy and parental control lawsuits against Google are unpredictable, these newly announced safety features may reassure the general public that the company is taking child and adolescent online safety more seriously.